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Answers 
to   Questions 

Concerning 
Christian   Science 


Edwaid  A.  iGmbaO,  CJ5.D. 


WORKS  ON  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE 

Written  by  MARY  BAK£B  EDDY 


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isiCIENCM  AND  HKAXTII  WITH  KEY  TO  THE  SCKIP- 

T I  it  lis.      Jr.    cue   volume,   700   pp.     The   Obiginal, 
S'jAv    '  '!•        .-,  only  text-book  on  Chbistian  So: 
Mi  .!      ;      ;     .;.    Cloth.    Trice,  siugle  book  . 
I  :'.i:    Kt.;i  nr   (samp  papor  as  Cloth   bindiug 
Morocco   (Oxford   Imiiu  Bible  Paper) 
Levant  (lleiivy  Oxford  India  Bible  Paper) 
MISCEL,LANEOi:8  WKITINOS.     471  pp.     Cloth 
Morocco  fOxford  India  Bible  Paper) 
Levant    (Oxford   India   Bible   Paper) 
COMPLETE      CONCORDANCE      TO      SCIENCE      AND 

HEALTH.   607  pp.,  10x7.    Cloth,  marbled  edges 
CHURCH   MANC.VL.     Containing  the   By-laws   of  The 

Mother  CLurch 

CHRIST  AND  CHRISTMAS.     An  illustrated   Poem 
CNITY  OF  GOOD  AND  OTHER  WRITINGS.     Morocco 
(Heavy  Oxford  India  Bible  Paper)         .... 
CHRISTIAN      HEALING     AND     OTHER     WRITINGS 

Morocco.     (Heavy  Oxford  India  Bible  Paper) 
MESSAGES  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH.     94  pj 

brary  edition       , 

CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  vs.  PANTHEISM.     15  pp.  1 

bitd  cloth  cover 

MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH,  1900.  15  ]  ; 
OUR   LEADER'S   MESS.AGE,   1901.     3.">   pp.         .         •         • 

COMMUNION  MESSAGE,  1903.    20  pp 

TWO   SERMONS.     36   pP-      Library  edition.      Cloth         .  '"0 

CHRISTIAN  HEALING.     20  pp -1 

THE  PEOPLE'S  IDEA  OF  GOD.    14  pp  -^ 

RETROSPECTION    AND    INTROSPECTION.       A     DJ. 
fc'raphical   .sketch   of   the    author.      95   pp.     Librar:, 

edition.     Cloth 

UNITY  or  GOOD.     64  pp.     Library  edition.     n:A\i  •  ,■ 

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<.oi.   ,    ■        :       .  foples,  $1.25  each. 

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y. 


],  1        <    ..  above  workH,  and  i  '    i  ,  -yable  to 

ALLISON  V,  STEWART,  Publisher, 

JMlrr.oTith  and  St.  Paul  Sth.,  Boston,  Mass.,  XI  S.  A. 


ANSWERS  TO  QUESTIONS 

CONCERNING 

CHRISTIAN     SCIENCE 

ALSO 

CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

ITS 

COMPASSIONATE   APPEAL 

BY 

EDWARD  A.    KIMBALL,    C.S.D. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  TUBLISHING  SOCIETY 

FALMOUTH   AND  ST.  PAUL  STREETS 

BOSTON,   MASSACHUSETTS 

U.  S.  A. 


Copyright,  igog,  by 
Thk  Christian  Science  Publishing  Socibty. 


'^ 


^6^^ii 


M-t-U 


ANSWERS  TO  QUESTIONS 
CONCERNING  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 


A  synopsis  of  answers  to  questions  upon  the  subject  of 
Christian  Science,  propounded  to  Edward  A.  Kimball  of 
Chicago,  before  the  Bloomington  (111.)  Chautauqua.  Pub- 
lished originally  in  the  Bloomington  Daily  Bulletin,  and 
now  republished,  as  revised,  from  The  Christian  Science 
Journal. 

MR.  KIMBALL  said:  A  number  of  ques- 
tions in  reference  to  this  subject  have 
been  handed  in  for  me  to  answer.  I  would  Hke  to 
say  that  I  shall  not  stand  here  under  pretense  of 
being  an  oracle.  The  best  that  I  can  do  will  be 
to  reply  to  the  different  questions  that  are 
brought  out  here  in  the  light  of  my  understanding 
of  Christian  Science,  aided  by  what  little  family 
iarity  I  may  have  with  the  other  side  of  the 
subject.  These  questions  concerning  Christian 
Science  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  whenever 
they  are  made  in  good  faith  every  Christian  Sci- 
entist is  only  too  willing  to  do  what  he  can  to 
elucidate  this  subject. 

The  first  question  in  this  list  is:  "What  are 
the  fundamental  points  of  difference  between 
Christian  Scientists  and  other  Christians?"  If 
these  other  Christians  were  as  a  unit  in  a  com- 


^1 


4  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

mon  understanding  of  God ;  if  they  had  a  specific 
and  universal  understanding  of  Jesus  Christ — his 
words  and  works ;  if  they  agreed  precisely  and  ex- 
actly concerning  the  origin  and  destiny  of  man; 
concerning  the  future, — in  relation  to  heaven  and 
hell,  in  relation  to  punishment  and  all  the  vital  and 
special  things  that  go  to  make  up  religious  thought 
and  belief;  if  there  was  a  unit  here  with  which  to 
compare  the  unit  of  Christian  Science,  it  would  be 
a  simple  thing  to  answer  this  question.  But,  to 
use  more  exact  phraseology,  "the  beliefs  of  other 
Christians"  have  been  as  numerous  as  the  sands 
upon  the  seashore.  I  venture  to  make  the  state- 
ment, which  any  one  can  verify  in  part,  that  if 
you  were  to  go  to  a  million  people  and  ask  them  to 
give  you  a  full  and  definite  statement  of  their  be- 
liefs concerning  all  the  fundamentals  of  religion, 
you  would  not  get  two  precisely  alike. 

In  the  first  place  you  will  very  seldom  find  a  man 
who  knows  what  he  believes  concerning  these 
questions.  Some  years  ago  a  minister  was  tried  for 
heresy  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  It  was  claimed  that 
he  had  incorporated  in  his  preaching  the  doctrines 
of  Unitarianism.  In  his  defense  several  of  his 
parishioners  and  elders  were  cited  as  witnesses, 
and  every  one  of  them  testified  that  they  consid- 
ered his  preaching — all  the  substance  of  his  ser- 
mons— entirely  orthodox  or  evangelical.  To  test 
their  qualifications  as  witnesses,  the  prosecutor 
read  to  each  one  certain  extracts  from  his  pastor's 


CONCERNING  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE  5 

sermons  and  from  sermons  written  by  a  noted 
Unitarian  divine,  promulgating  the  doctrines  of 
Unitarianism.  Supposing  them  all  to  be  sermons 
of  the  accused,  all  the  witnesses  said  they  approved 
of  the  substance  as  being  evangelical. 

Only  a  short  time  ago  I  was  talking  with  a  man 
who  belonged  to  the  Congregational  church.  He 
desired  to  know  about  Christian  Science  treat- 
ment. In  the  course  of  the  conversation  he  told 
me  he  did  not  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus. 
He  went  to  work  to  prove  to  me  why  it  was  utterly 
impossible  for  Jesus  to  rise  from  the  dead  after 
being  dead  for  three  days.  Now  I  ask  you  what 
sense  of  Congregationalism  was  it  that  eliminated 
from  his  belief  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus?  What  becomes  of  Christianity  with  the 
resurrection  left  out  of  it?  That  man  supposed 
he  was  a  Christian  and  a  true  disciple,  but  still  he 
denied  the  resurrection  of  Jesus. 

Again,  you  cannot  always  tell  what  a  man  be- 
lieves by  what  he  says.  It  is  not  enough  to  say,  I 
am  this  or  that.  Suppose  a  man  says  to  you,  "I 
believe  that  God  is  infinite."  And  you,  perhaps 
reaching  out  beyond  the  limitation  of  the  testi- 
mony of  the  senses,  allowing  your  thoughts  to  rest 
on  those  things  that  are  not  within  the  reach  of 
the  eyes,  nose,  and  mouth,  lay  hold  somewhat 
upon  the  meaning  of  this  word  "infinite."  You 
know  that  that  which  is  infinite  must  be  self- 
existent  and  all-inclusive;  it  must  contain  all  the 


6  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

elements  of  continuance  or  immortality;  it  must 
be  unlimited;  there  can  be  nothing  unlike  itself  or 
that  is  not  included  in  itself.  And  as  you  begin 
to  take  on  the  wonderful  signification  of  the  word, 
you  turn  to  him  and  say,  **So  do  I."  And  all  the- 
time  you  are  thinking  of  infinite  intelligence,  of 
the  all-inclusive  God,  infinite  wisdom.  Then  he 
says,  "I  believe  in  the  omnipotence  of  God."  And 
as  you  realize  that  there  is  no  power  without  in- 
telligence, and  that  which  is  omni-intelligence  or 
omni-science  must  also  include  all  power;  when 
you  realize  that  infinite  cannot  be  anything  less 
than  infinite,  and  that  it  is  the  omnipotence  of  the 
omnipotent  that  you  are  thinking  about,  you 
again  say  to  him,  "So  do  I." 

Then  he  says  to  you,  "I  believe  in  the  power  of 
evil.  I  believe  that  there  is  an  entity  called  Satan, 
possessing  all  the  characteristics  of  immortality, 
possessing  power  akin  to  the  divine  power  and  the 
ability  to  hold  mankind  in  eternal  punishment, 
power  to  drag  man  down  from  the  image  and 
likeness  of  God  to  perdition."  And  when  you  see 
that  this  man  who  is  trying  to  believe  in  the  om- 
nipotence of  God  lays  a  great  deal  more  stress  on 
the  power  of  evil ;  when  you  find  that  he  believes 
in  an  eternal  entity  and  intelligence  opposed  to  the 
infinite  God,  then  you  see  and  know  that  the  man 
does  not  believe  in  the  first  two  propositions  at  all. 
It  makes  no  difference  how  a  man  tries  to  per- 
suade himself  that  he  believes  in  an  infinite  om- 


CONCERNING   CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  7 

nipotent  God,  if  at  the  same  time  he  is  trying  to  ' 
believe  in  a  devil  or  power  opposed  to  this  infinite.  \ 
All  the  sophistry  he  can  bring  to  bear  upon  the  f 
subject   cannot   outweigh  the   utter   falsity   and  \ 
futility  of  the  effort  and  of  that  conclusion.  -^ 

It  is  said  that  there  are  about  one  hundred  and 
forty  different  Christian  sects ;  nevertheless,  'it 
would  perhaps  be  indelicate  for  me  to  stand  up 
here  and  say  what  other  people's  beliefs  are  con- 
cerning God  and  man,  and  their  relation  to  each 
other ;  concerning  the  question  of  the  Messiahship, 
of  future  punishment,  man's  duty,  and  so  on.  It 
is  not  for  me  to  say  what  you  and  others  believe, 
nor  is  it  worth  while  for  me  to* discuss  the  beliefs 
of  the  different  denominations,  but  we  will  take 
up  what  I  suppose  to  be  the  intent  of  this  inquiry, 
and  put  it  a  little  differently  from  the  way  in 
which  it  has  been  stated. 

"In  what  respect  is  Christian  Science,  viewed  as 
a  religious  belief,  different  from  all  other  Chris- 
tian beliefs?"  or  rather,  "In  what  respects  are  the 
fundamentals  of  Christian  Science  different  from 
all  other  beliefs?"  I  can  perhaps  with  profit  speak 
of  two  special  differences.  One  is  this :  Christian 
Scientists  do  believe  that  God  is  infinite ;  that  God 
is  infinite  good,  infinite  Truth,  infinite  Life,  in- 
finite Love,  infinite  wisdom,  infinite  intelligence, 
and  that  "there  is  none  beside  him."  That  being 
the  case,  we  have  to  account  for  evil  in  some  other 
way  than  by  calling  it  a  power  opposed  to  God,  or 


8  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

an  evidence  of  the  manifestation  of  intelligence 
and  wisdom.  Christian  Scientists  believe  emphat- 
ically and  thoroughly  that  if  God  is  good  at  all, 
He  must  be  infinitely  good;  if  God  is  Truth  at  all, 
He  must  be  infinite  Truth,  and  all  truth  must  be 
good;  if  God  is  inteUigence  at  all.  He  must  be 
infinite  intelligence,  and,  therefore,  all  intelli- 
gence must  be  good;  and  that  which  calls  itself 
evil  intelligence  and  evil  power  is  not  of  God,  is 
not  included  in  the  infinite,  is  not  permitted  by  the 
infinite,  is  not  made  use  of  by  the  infinite,  but  is 
entirely  apart  and  separate  from  it.  It  is  utterly 
impossible  to  conceive  of  God  as  infinite  good  and 
then  incorporate  within  that  an  entity  called  Satan 
or  spirit  of  evil. 
— =^How  do  Christian  Scientists  account  for  evil? 
We  find  it  to  be  this:  That  the  only  Satan  there 
is,  is  the  false  concept  of  being,  or  what  has  been 
termed  the  carnal  mind.  Just  as  soon  as  men  abso- 
lutely stop  sinning,  there  will  be  no  witness  of  sin, 
there  will  be  no  witness  of  a  devil ;  there  will  be  no 
sin  known ;  and  in  order  to  get  rid  of  sin,  the  only 
way  to  do  it  is  to  stop  sinning.  Mortal  man  has 
contemplated  this  thing  we  call  evil  so  long,  and 
sin  itself  has  seemed  to  exercise  such  a  bondage 
over  him,  that  he  has  seemed  to  be  obliged  to  ac- 
count for  it  in  some  way.  He  has  looked  upon  it 
as  something  supernatural ;  something  from  which 
he  could  not  escape ;  and  that  horrible  sense  of  the 
power  of  evil  has  hung  upon  him  and  mildewed 


CONCERNING   CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  9 

him;  its  chains  have  deprived  him  of  the  domin- 
ion he  has  over  the  claim  of  evil  power.  What 
is  there  more  paralyzing  to  a  man's  endeavors 
than  to  suppose  that  there  is  opposed  to  him  a 
mysterious  power — a  supernatural  agency  with 
which  he  is  unable  to  cope;  which  in  spite  of  his 
every  effort  may  drag  him  down  to  infinite  pun- 
ishment for  the  finite  sin  he  has  committed. 

The  question  arises:  "What  is  the  Christian 
Scientist  trying  to  do  to  resist  Satan?"  He  is 
trying  to  cast  evil  out  of  his  own  thought,  from 
his  own  life,  from  his  own  experience;  the  only 
way  he  knows  of  whereby  to  resist  evil  is  to  do 
that,  and  he  does  it  rationally,  with  the  under- 
standing that  when  he  has  accomplished  that  he 
has  overcome  the  devil  in  himself.  What  has 
been  the  scene  of  his  strife?  Is  it  not  that  of  his 
own  experience,  of  his  own  thought,  of  his  own 
tendency?  When  he  sees  that  he  has  overcome 
Satan,  if  we  ask  what  has  been  the  theater  of 
action,  and  he  answers  truly,  he  will  say  that  it 
has  been  his  own  consciousness. 

I  shall  ignore  all  the  contradictions  of  religious 
beliefs  and  presume  that  as  Christians  we  all 
agree  as  to  the  saving  mission  of  Jesus;  the  di- 
vinity of  Christ;  the  efficacy  of  the  atonement, 
and  the  necessity  for  following  Christ  as  the  way 
of  salvation.  Let  us  say  that  we  all  agree  con- 
cerning the  desirability  of  manifesting  good  and 
resisting  evil;  that  the  Ten  Commandments  and 


lo  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  were  intended  for  tis, 
and  that  we  beHeve  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus  and 
that  he  said,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world,"  'Treach 
the  gospel,"  "Heal  the  sick,"  etc. 

Having  agreed  up  to  this  point,  the  Christian 
Scientist  diverges  from  the  generally  accepted  con- 
ceptions of  Christians.  So  far  as  I  know,  there  is 
no  other  well-known  and  acknowledged  Christian 
denomination  that  accepts  and  believes  that  part 
of  Jesus'  Christianity — the  healing  of  the  sick — 
as  the  natural  and  indispensable  phenomenon  of 
reHgion.  I  know  of  no  other  such  Christians  who 
believe  that  the  command  to  heal  the  sick  was  in- 
tended for  them  or  that  they  can  comply.  Chris- 
tian Scientists,  on  the  other  hand,  understand  that 
this  command  was  intended  for  all  Christians,  and 
for  all  time,  and  that  they  can  and  must  obey  its 
mandatory  instruction  in  order  to  manifest  the 
Christianity  of  Jesus,  who  said,  "I  am  the  way," 
"Follow  thou  me,"  "Go,  and  do  thou  likewise." 
This  is  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  difference 
between  Christian  Scientists  and  other  Christians. 

The  next  question  coming  on  in  this  same  line 
is  this :  "Is  it  not  blasphemous  to  claim  to  heal  as 
Jesus  did,  thus  making  yourselves  equal  to  Jesus, 
or  making  gods  of  yourselves?"  The  latter  part 
of  the  question,  "Thus  making  yourselves  equal  to 
Jesus,  or  gods  of  yourselves,"  is  gratuitous.  There 
is  no  Christian  Scientist  who  supposes  that  he  is 
equal  to  Jesus ;  he  knows  why  he  is  not.    There  is 


CONCERNING  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  ii 

no  Christian  Scientist  trying  to  make  a  god  of 
himself;  he  understands  that  God  is  infinite,  and 
that  he  cannot  possibly  change  himself  so  as  to 
include  the  infinite.  Let  us  take  the  first,  which  is 
a  legitimate  question.  "Is  it  not  blasphemous  to 
claim  to  heal  as  Jesus  did?"  If  it  is  blasphemous 
as  a  follower  of  Jesus  to  follow  his  commands, 
then  the  answer  is,  Yes.  If  it  is  blasphemous  for 
us  to  obey  the  commands  of  Jesus,  then  it  is  blas- 
phemous to  preach  the  gospel;  it  is  blasphemous 
to  be  pure  in  heart ;  it  is  blasphemous  to  be  meek ; 
it  is  blasphemous  to  love  your  neighbor;  it  is 
blasphemous  to  keep  the  Ten  Commandments ;  it 
is  blasphemous  to  obey  God.  If  it  is  thought  to 
be  blasphemous  to  respond  to  this  instruction  of 
Jesus,  then  I  would  like  to  have  you  ask  yourself 
what  authority  there  is  for  dissecting  the  com- 
mands of  Jesus  and  saying  this  one  is  valid  and 
that  one  is  not.  Where  can  you  find  any  author- 
ity for  annulling  any  of  the  commands  of  Jesus, 
if  you  have  any  respect  for  them  at  all? 

"Is  it  not  blasphemous  to  claim  to  heal  as  Jesus 
healed?" 

Do  you  know  how  Jesus  healed  ?  Who  is  there 
here  that  knows  how  Jesus  healed  ?  Does  the  one 
who  makes  this  inquiry  know  how  Jesus  healed? 
I  once  read  a  synopsis  of  an  infidel  lecture  in 
which  the  writer  was  trying  to  impeach  the  Bibli- 
cal account  of  the  miracles,  those  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament and  those  performed  by  Jesus.     It  went 


12  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

on  something  like  this :  He  said,  "Now  take  these 
Christian  people  at  their  own  word.  They  begin 
by  saying  that  their  God  is  infinite ;  He  is  infinite 
power,  wisdom,  truth,  and  intelligence.  If  that  is 
the  case,  everything  is  in  accord  with  the  infinite, 
and  it  must  be  scientific.  God  cannot  be  a  miracu- 
lous God  if  He  is  infinite;  it  is  only  to  the  sense  of 
the  beholder  that  anything  can  be  miraculous ;  God 
cannot  be  supernatural  or  unnatural  to  Himself. 
If  Jesus  did  the  will  of  God  he  did  it  in  accordance 
with  the  nature  of  God,  which  would  be  scientific. 
If  miracles  had  been  performed,  they  would  have 
been  performed  in  accordance  with  science,  and  if 
so  they  could  be  done  again.  That  they  have  never 
been  performed  again  is  evidence  that  the  Biblical 
account  of  the  miracles  is  spurious."  He  made 
out  of  it  that  because  it  was  claimed  that  the 
works  of  Jesus  were  miraculous,  that  claim  stul- 
tified the  other  claim  that  God  is  infinite. 

When  we  come  to  know  the  Science  of  Jesus' 
words  and  works,  we  learn  that  when  he  taught 
his  disciples  what  they  were  to  do  in  order  to 
manifest  Christianity,  he  taught  them  the  operation 
of  divinely  natural  law — the  law  of  God,  which 
he  came  to  fulfil.  He  taught  every  one  of  them 
that  the  healing  of  the  sick  was  the  legitimate 
phenomenon  of  his  own  understanding  of  God, 
and  in  his  teaching  he  said,  "These  signs  shall 
follow  them  that  believe."  He  was  not  talking  to 
eleven  or  twelve  men.    He  was  not  speaking  to  a 


CONCERNING   CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  13 

mere  speck  upon  the  great  wave  of  humanity;  he 
was  teaching  of  Principle ;  he  was  giving  out  some- 
thing for  eternal  years.  What  did  he  say?  He 
said,  practically,  Go  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel,  and  these  signs  shall  follow  you,  be- 
cause you  are  my  students — my  disciples.  They 
shall  follow  them  that  understand  you. 

It  has  been  the  general  understanding  that  the 
power  to  heal  which  was  bestowed  upon  these  dis- 
ciples was  a  special  interposition — a  miraculous  or 
unnatural  enactment  of  God  in  behalf  of  these 
disciples.  We  repudiate  that  view  of  it.  Do  you 
not  remember  that  there  was  a  time  when  the 
disciples  came  to  Jesus  and  said  there  was  a  case 
they  could  not  heal,  and  he  said  to  them,  "O  faith- 
less and  perverse  generation"?  Jesus'  work  was 
poorly  done  if  he  had  set  out  to  bestow  on  these 
few  men,  out  of  all  that  ever  lived,  this-  great 
power,  and  it  had  failed,  so  that  they  could  not 
do  that  which  was  brought  to  them.  This  sen- 
tence of  Jesus  shows  that  the  effort  was  a  failure 
in  that  they  did  not  have  a  full  understanding  of 
what  he  had  taught  them. 

What  do  you  think  Jesus  came  upoh  the  earth 
for?  Was  it  not  for  the  saving  of  the  race  by  the 
manifestation  of  the  highest  good  that  had  ever 
been  known  ?  If  healing  the  sick  was  one  of  those 
manifestations  of  good,  why  should  the  imparta- 
tion  of  infinite  good  have  limited  its  operation  to 
eleven  men?    I  am  going  to  introduce  another  of 


14  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

these  questions  right  here.  "Why  do  Christian 
Scientists  presume  to  heal  when  that  time  is  past  ?" 
What  time  is  past?  If  you  read  history,  do  you 
not  know  that  one  of  the  invariable  accompani- 
ments of  early  Christian  experience  was  the  heal- 
ing of  the  sick?  Do  you  not  know  that  so  long 
as  Christianity  maintained  its  purity  and  kept 
within  the  confines  of  meekness,  honesty,  and 
self-abnegation,  the  healing  was  one  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  Christian  work?  We  have  been  ac- 
customed to  applaud  the  Emperor  Constantine 
because  he  espoused  Christianity.  What  a  glori- 
ous day  it  was  supposed  to  be  when  he  fixed  his 
gaze  upon  Christianity,  laid  his  hand  on  it,  and 
said,  "You  are  mine."  Unhappy  hour  for  the 
world!  What  did  he  do?  What  did  the  world 
do  ?  It  took  the  simple  Christianity  of  the  Naza- 
rene,  the  simple  Christianity  of  the  fishermen, 
put  it  on  a  throne  and  clothed  it  in  purple  and 
fine  linen,  and  made  it  a  political  agency.  No 
wonder  that  faith  in  God  disappeared ! 

If  God  is  infinite,  He  works  through  infinite 
laws.  If  God  is  infinite,  He  must  be  impartial;  His 
laws,  therefore,  are  impartial.  It  is  just  as  impos- 
sible for  God  to  create  and  set  in  motion  a  law  that 
has  no  further  application  than  that  which  extends 
itself  over  twelve,  seventy,  or  three  hundred  men, 
as  it  is  for  God  to  become  less  than  infinite.  It  is 
an  impossibility.  Whatever  is  being  done  accord- 
ing to  God  is  being  done  according  to  His  univer- 


CONCERNING  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE  15 

sal  impartiality.  If  it  were  ever  right  for  a  sick 
man  to  be  healed  in  accordance  with  the  universal 
law  of  God,  it  is  right  now.  There  was  no  good 
created  by  God  for  the  year  1,  if  you  please,  or 
again  for  the  Christian  era,  that  is  not  good  for 
Him  now,  or  that  is  too  good  for  Him  now. 
When  God  healed  the  sick  through  Jesus,  did  He 
do  a  good  thing,  or  an  evil  thing?  Did  Jesus,  in 
healing  the  sick,  thereby  destroy  the  works  of 
God,  or  the  "works  of  the  devil"? 

"How  does  it  happen,  if  this  is  of  God,  that 
our  good  and  learned  people,  preachers,  etc.,  do 
not  believe  it?"  Before  I  answer  the  question  I^ 
would  like  to  say  that  some  of  our  good  and 
learned  people  do  believe  in  it;  and  that  we  are 
not,  as  some  suppose,  a  lot  of  pagans. 

"How  does  it  happen,  if  this  is  of  God,  that  our 
good  and  learned  people,  preachers,  etc.,  do  not 
believe  in  it  ?"  How  did  it  happen,  if  Jesus  was  of 
God,  that  the  representatives  of  the  most  venerable 
theology  in  the  world,  the  most  highly  cultured, 
philosophical,  and  learned  people  of  the  world, — 
those  who  were  supposed  to  represent  the  wisdom 
of  this  world, — did  not  believe  in  him  ?  You  who 
are  Christians  now,  looking  back  upon  the  scene 
of  Jerusalem,  the  scene  of  Athens, — that  home  of 
literature  and  philosophy, — what  do  you  think  of 
the  goodness  and  learning  which  rejected  Jesus 
simply  because  they  were  the  representatives  of 
the  dominant  religion  of  that  time?     Does  that 


i6  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

indicate  that  they  were  right  in  rejecting  Jesus, 
and  that  Jesus  was  wrong  because  those  people 
did  not  accept  him?  Why  is  it,  if  the  CathoHc 
rehgion  is  of  God,  that  our  good  and  learned 
people  do  not  accept  that?  Why  is  it,  if  Method- 
ism is  of  God,  that  the  Catholics  do  not  accept 
that?  I  think  I  am  not  saying  too  much  when  I 
venture  the  statement  that  if  you  should  get  a 
consensus  of  opinion,  each  sect  would  think  the 
other  lost  because  of  its  belief. 

Now  let  us  change  the  question  a  little,  and  ask 
it  in  this  way:  *'Why  is  it,  if  this  is  of  God,  that 
all  religious  people  do  not  recognize  it  as  such  and 
accept  it  ?"  There  is  one  reason  that  really  covers 
C~the  whole  ground.  It  is  because  they  do  not  be- 
)  lieve  in  it ;  that  is  the  reason  they  do  not  accept  it, 
I  — they  do  not  believe  that  it  is  true.  Let  us  see  why. 
Let  us  get  away  from  personality  and  see  that 
every  religious  denomination  is  simply  the  embodi- 
ment of  some  kind  of  religious  belief,  and  that  it  is 
this  belief  and  doctrine  which  we  are  to  consider 
and  not  the  individual.  It  is  a  well-known  state- 
ment of  many  writers  and  theologians  that  there  is 
nothing  so  tenacious  as  a  religious  belief,  and  as 
every  one  of  these  denominations  is  the  expression 
of  some  particular  religious  belief,  how  can  it  be 
possible  for  one  who  is  absorbed  in  allegiance  to 
one  belief  to  turn  around  and  believe  another  one 
that  is  so  different?  The  reason  people  do  not 
accept  Catholicism  as  the  universal  religion  is  that 


CONCERNING   CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  17 

they  do  not  believe  in  it;  the  reason  they  do  not 
accept  Unitarianism  is  because  they  do  not  beHeve 
in  it.  You  might  go  on  until  you  had  covered  ten 
thousand  phases  of  belief. 

**Ho\v  can  intelligent  people  be  duped  with  it?" 
That  is  another  question,  and  the  effort  to  incor- 
porate a  sting  has  created  an  anomaly.  The  ques- 
tion is  absurd  on  its  face.  Before  we  take  the 
question  up  from  a  Christian  Science  standpoint, 
we  will  see  just  what  it  amounts  to.  What  does  it 
mean  to  be  duped  by  anything?  Let  us  suggest 
that  it  means  to  be  misled,  deceived,  or  imposed 
upon;  and  reading  the  question  in  this  way,  it 
would  be,  How  can  intelligent  people  be  imposed 
upon,  or  deceived,  or  defrauded  by  Christian  Sci- 
ence? We  ask  how  can  an  intelligent  person  be 
duped  ?  What  is  an  intelligent  person  ?  An  intel- 
ligent person  is  one  who  manifests  intelligence. 
Now  I  would  like  to  ask  you  how  intelligence  can 
be  duped  by  non-intelligence?  If  a  man  is  intelli- 
gent he  cannot  be  duped.  If  an  intelligent  man 
accepts  anything,  then  it  is  evidence  that  he  is  not 
being  duped,  but  that  that  which  he  accepts  is 
genuine;  that  it  appeals  to  his  sense  of  intelli- 
gence and  order;  and  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  can 
be  duped  he  is  not  intelligent. 

Let  us  see  why  intelligent  people  accept  Christian 
Science,  or  believe  in  Christian  Science.  That  is  an 
honest  question.  I  remember  the  first  time  I  went 
to  Boston  to  study  Christian  Science.     A  literary 


i8  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

lady  of  Boston  came  into  the  class  one  day.  She 
had  been  healed  of  disease,  and  came  to  the  class 
because  she  was  interested.  She  and  I  were  stop- 
ping at  the  same  hotel,  and  the  next  morning, 
meeting  at  the  breakfast-table,  we  engaged  in 
conversation.  She  said,  "I  was  surprised  at  the 
personnel  of  that  class.  They  were  all  adults — 
serious  people  of  intelligent  appearance,  all  indi- 
cating by  their  actions  deep  interest  and  insight. 
Where  did  they  all  come  from  ?  Do  they  all  belong 
here  in  Boston?"  I  was  about  to  say  they  came 
from  all  over  the  world;  but  remembering,  as  I 
did  at  that  moment,  that  I  had  just  escaped  from 
years  of  sickness  myself ;  remembering  that  right 
behind  me  there  sat  a  man  who  had,  while  lying 
in  prison  during  the  war,  contracted  a  disease  that 
had  prostrated  him  for  twenty  years,  and  that  he 
had  been  healed ;  remembering  that  at  my  side  there 
sat  a  woman  whose  mother  had  died  in  the  insane 
asylum,  and  who,  herself,  had  been  taken  to  the 
asylum,  but  was  cured  by  Christian  Science;  re- 
membering that  at  my  other  side  there  was  a 
woman  who  for  six  years  had  been  trying  in  vain 
to  be  healed  of  asthma,  but  had  also  just  been 
healed ;  remembering  these,  and  a  great  many  other 
similar  cases  among  the  students  there  assembled, 
I  said  to  her,  "Most  of  us  came  from  our  graves." 
"How  can  intelligent  people  be  duped  with  it  ?" 
Stand  and  look  into  an  open  grave  for  months,  as 
I  have  done ;  all  the  little  fleeting  joys  of  earth  seem 


CONCERNING   CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  19 

as  nothing  compared  with  it ;  you  begin  to  be  seri- 
ous; you  begin  to  stare  eternity  in  the  face;  and 
then,  whether  you  are  intelHgent  or  ignorant,  if 
you  can  turn  to  that  agency  which  restores  you  to 
health,  happiness,  and  usefulness,  if  you  have  the 
wisdom  of  an  infant,  you  will  want  to  know  what 
it  is  that  has  wrought  this  stupendous  transfor- 
mation. Most  of  the  people  who  come  into  Chris- 
tian Science  come  because  they  have  been  lifted 
out  of  a  hell  of  misery. 

"Why  do  you  maintain  a  separate  denomination  ? 
If  Christian  Science  is  so  good,  why  not  keep  it  in 
the  other  churches?"  Every  denomination  is  the 
expression  of  a  belief.  When  Paul  became  a  Chris- 
tian the  first  thing  he  did  was  to  preach  to  the  Jews. 
He  made  an  effort  to  present  Christianity  to  them 
in  such  a  way  that  they  would  espouse  it,  but  they 
rejected  it,  and  he  turned  to  the  Gentiles.  Christian 
Science  as  a  demonstrable  statement  of  Christian- 
ity, with  proofs  following  in  demonstration  of  that 
belief,  has  been  preached  to  the  churches  and  re- 
jected. The  reason  why  they  do  not  keep  it  in  the  old 
church  is  that  the  old  church  will  not  have  it  there. 

"Why  do  Christian  Scientists  maintain  a  denom- 
ination of  their  own?"    Christian  Science  is  a  re- 
ligion that  is  being  manifested,  among  other  things 
by  the  healing  of  the  sick.    There  is  a  vast  differ^ 
ence  between  the  consciousness  that  knows  it  cani 
heal  the  sick,  and  that  which  knows  it  cannot.  There  [ 
is  a  much  wider  difference  between  these  beliefs ' 


20  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

than  others  that  have  caused  separation.    You  can 
go  down  into  town  and  you  will  find  churches  on 
each  of  four  corners.    Why  do  they  have  separate 
churches?    If  what  they  believe  is  so  good,  why 
not  stay  in  the  old  church  ?   Why  do  they  hire  four 
ministers,  four  choirs,  and  go  to  the  expense  of 
keeping  up  four  establishments  ?    I  am  not  here  to 
criticize  the  fact  that  there  are  four  churches  on 
any  four  corners,  but  I  am  bringing  it  within  the 
range  of  the  discussion  of  the  argument  that  we 
/nare  narrow.     Christian  Scientists  are  separate  by 
(   reason  of  the  situation ;  they  cannot  coalesce  with 
\  other  denominations,  because  their  doctrine  is  dif- 
j  f  erent  from  any  other.     Is  not  that  reason  enough  ? 
^  You  may  say  that  it  is  "no  good,"  but  that  is  not 
the  point,  for  it  is  the  reason  why  Christian  Scien- 
tists are  a  denomination  by  themselves.    They  do 
not  segregate  because  they  want  to  monopolize 
good ;  that  would  not  be  in  accord  with  Christian 
Science  at  all. 

Another  question  is :  "If  this  is  true,  why  did  not 
God  send  it  sooner  ?"  Why  did  not  He  send  Moses 
and  the  Ten  Commandments  sooner?  Why  wait 
four  thousand  years  for  Jesus  to  come  ?  Why  has 
not  every  scientific  fact  come  sooner  ?  This  ques- 
tion comes  from  the  conception  that  God  has  a  lot 
of  truth  stored  up,  and  doles  it  out  through  differ- 
ent eras  of  history.  He  is  supposed  to  wait  a  few 
thousand  years  and  then  sends  Moses  to  tell  people 
they  must  do  so  and  so,  and  then  in  a  few  thousand 


CONCERNING   CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  21 

more  years  He  sends  Jesus.  This  question  comes 
from  a  minimized  conception  of  God  which  in- 
cludes no  understanding  of  His  operations  at  all. 
Let  us  go  back  and  review  human  history.  What 
were  the  conditions  at  the  time  of  Moses?  They 
were  as  black  as  ink  so  far  as  the  mentality  was 
concerned.  The  people  had  been  in  Egypt  many 
years,  and  were  filled  full  of  every  form  of  the 
black  art  and  occultism.  They  were  as  opaque  as 
it  was  possible  to  be — hardly  one  ray  of  spirituality 
there.  Moses  discerned  somewhat  of  God;  that 
was  a  condition  of  consciousness  where  God  could 
be  seen,  felt,  and  appreciated.  Moses  discerned 
what  was  the  law  of  God — the  nature  of  God,  and 
what  man  must  do  in  order  to  manifest  God,  and 
formulated  that  conception  in  the  declaration, 
'Thou  shalt  not." 

Then  we  find  that  human  thought  trudges  on; 
here  are  the  prophets,  Isaiah,  Daniel,  Elijah,  teach- 
ing and  admonishing  the  people,  and  finally  there 
is  just  enough  attenuation  in  the  condition  of  hu- 
man consciousness  so  that  Jesus  appears  at  the 
proper  time  and  preaches  a  new  dispensation,  the 
law  of  love,  which  fulfils  all  law.  Was  Jesus  in 
advance  of  his  time,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  was  he 
too  late?  Of  all  the  people  that  then  existed,  how 
many  were  ready  for  him?  If  you  will  examine 
the  history  of  the  action  of  the  human  mind,  you 
will  see  that  this  sublimation  had  been  going  on 
all  the  time;  it  is  the  only  reason  why  this  mind 


22  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

has  been  able  to  accept  his  higher  metaphysical 
statement  of  science  or  God.  This  being  the  truth, 
you  see  it  could  not  have  come  much  sooner  and 
created  any  impression.  Notwithstanding  that  it 
is  today  accompanied  by  the  most  indisputable 
phenomena,  the  ignorance  of  the  human  mind 
yields  slowly  to  the  "glad  tidings." 

**Why  do  Christian  Scientists  use  a  vocabulary 
of  words  that  differ  from  ordinary  English  ?"  They 
do  not ;  positively  they  do  not.    If  you  will  look  in 
the  dictionary  you  will  find  as  many  as  ten  different 
meanings  for  some  words;  some  of  them  give  the 
very  lowest  signification,  and  then  they  ascend  to 
higher  and  more  comprehensive  definitions.    Take 
the  word  "infinite."     How  many  can  define  it — 
how  many  really  understand  it  ?    Some  men  would 
say,  "This  is  an  infinitely  cooler  day  than  yester- 
day."  What  kind  of  use  is  that  to  make  of  the  word 
"infinite"?     However,  you  find  that  most  people 
have  a  more  comprehensive  sense  of  the  word  than 
that.   Most  words  have  from  one  to  a  dozen  mean- 
ings, and  men  use  them  according  to  their  under- 
standing of  these  definitions.     It  is  a  fact  that 
there  is  not  a  word  in  the  vocabulary  of  Christian 
Science  that  is  not  warranted  by  the  dictionary, 
rrhe  trouble  is  that  ordinary  English  is  not  com- 
\  prehensive  enough  to  convey  the  meaning  of  meta- 
;  physics ;  the  difficulty  in  making  Christian  Science 
"j  understood  is  that  ordinary  language  is  insufficient 
(in  its  scope,  and  that  which  is  partially  adequate 


CONCERNING  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  23 

is  not  understood.  In  order  to  comprehend  Chris-) 
tian  Science,  one  must  work  up  to  the  higher 
signification  of  these  terms.  .  J 

**If  medicine  is  wrong,  why  do  we  have  herbs 
with  medicinal  quahties?"  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
what  Dr.  Mason  Good,  a  learned  professor  of 
London,  says:  "The  effects  of  medicine  on  the 
human  system  are  in  the  highest  degree  uncer- 
tain ;  except,  indeed,  that  it  has  already  destroyed 
more  lives  than  war,  pestilence,  and  famine  all 
combined."  That  is  the  testimony  concerning  the 
effect  of  medicine  by  a  learned  doctor  of  medicine. 
This  question  is  a  very  common  one.  A  recent 
eminent  divine  is  reported  to  have  said  that  he 
would  be  inclined  to  espouse  the  doctrines  of 
Christian  Science  if  it  were  not  for  the  medicine 
that  is  growing  all  around  us ;  that  God  had  cre- 
ated that  medicine  because  He  expected  people  to 
be  sick;  and  that  that  is  what  it  is  for. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  that  everything  in  the 
vegetable,  mineral,  and  animal  kingdoms  has  been 
doled  out  to  man  as  medicine  for  sickness,  and  he 
has  swallowed  it  all.  If  it  be  admitted  that  the 
fact  that  men  have  taken  all  these  things  as  medi- 
cine is  evidence  that  God  created  them  for  this 
purpose,  we  are  forced  to  the  irresistible  conclu- 
sion that  God  created  man  to  be  sick  after  having 
created  the  earth  as  medicine  for  him. 

I  do  not  think  there  is  much  force  in  this  premise, 
but  let  us  go  on  and  examine  the  question  from  a 


24  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

different  standpoint.    Christian  Scientists  do  not 

go  around  saying,  "You  must  not  take  medicine." 

What  they  do  say  is  this :  that  you  do  not  need  to 

take  medicine  in  order  to  be  healed ;  that  there  is  a 

better  way  to  heal  man  than  by  giving  him  medi- 

^cine.     They  realize  that  the  true  way  of  healing 

1   the  sick  is  the  mental  process.    They  are  trying  to 

\  prove  to  the  invalid  that  that  is  the  better  way.  Just 

\  so  soon  as  he  comes  to  see  and  depend  on  this 

:  method  rather  than  on  medicine,  just  so  soon  as 

he  sees  that  it  is  something  valuable,  he  will  find 

that  it  is  a  better  way ;  he  will  find  that  he  is  not 

,    only  being  healed,  but  he  stays  well  longer — he 

;   does  not  get  sick  so  often ;  he  gets  rid  of  sickness 

/"Sooner  when  he  is  sick,  and  so  on.     We  are  not 

here  to  quarrel  with  medicine,  and  especially  with 

people  who  do  not  understand  these  things.    People 

are  all  depending  too  much  on  medicine — a  thing 

\  which  most  of  them  know  so  little  about. 

"~^~^*'Why  do  you  make  charges?     Jesus  did  not 

charge." 

In  the  tenth  chapter  of  Luke  you  will  find  some 
instructions  that  Jesus  gave  his  disciples.  He  said, 
_Go ;  take  no  money — no  purse ;  preach  the  gospel, 
heal  the  sick',  eat  what  is  set  before  you,  and  the 
laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.  Taking  these  two 
in  connection,  is  it  not  fair  to  think  that  he  told 
them  to  eat  what  was  before  them,  not  as  beggars 
and  mendicants,  but  because  they  were  entitled  to 
the  provision?  This  is  a  figure  of  speech  which  he 


CONCERNING   CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  25 

used  in  order  to  reach  their  understanding,  and  this 
is  the  natural,  easy,  and  proper  interpretation  of  it. 
Jesus  sent  them  out  with  the  instruction  that  the 
laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.  He  recognized  the 
principle  of  compensation.  In  those  days  the  social 
system  was  very  different  from  what  it  is  now. 
They  did  not  pay  people  salaries.  It  is  only  a  short 
time  since  the  school-teacher  had  to  get  his  board 
one  week  at  one  place  and  the  next  week  at  an- 
other. They  set  something  before  him,  and  he  ac- 
cepted it  because  it  was  sufficient  for  what  he  did. 
In  those  days  they  did  not  receive  pay  according  to 
the  money  standard  of  today,  but  they  did  receive 
reasonable  compensation  for  what  they  did. 

My  dear  friends,  there  is  a  reverse  side  to  this 
question  that  is  of  great  importance.  Why  do  you 
object  to  paying  for  services  performed  in  your  be- 
half ?  Why  are  you  unwilling  to  pay  the  minister 
who  labors  for  you,  and  considers  it  proper  to 
make  charges  for  "preaching  the  gospel"  ?  Why, 
to  my  sense  the  true  minister  occupies  the  most 
exalted  position  that  man  can  occupy ;  in  order  to 
do  his  work  faithfully  he  must  exhibit  great  self- 
abnegation,  being  criticized  on  all  sides.  Why  do 
you  object  to  paying  him  for  trying  to  save  you? 
Why  is  it  that  the  physician  doing  the  best  he  knows 
how  to  do  to  relieve  humanity ;  ready  to  go  on  all 
occasions,  both  day  and  night ;  coming  in  contact 
with  the  most  fretful,  irritable  beings  on  earth — 
sick  people — why  is  it  that  you  object  to  paying 


26  ANSWERS   TO   QUESTIONS 

him  ?  We  find  that  when  we  get  hold  of  a  person 
who  can  pay  and  does  not  want  to,  he  is  one  of  the 
hardest  people  to  heal.  The  fact  is  it  is  a  sin — the 
sin  of  selfishness,  of  greed ;  unwillingness  to  give 
credit  where  credit  is  due.  This  willingness  to 
get  something  for  nothing  is  a  sin,  and  Christian 
Scientists  would  be  helping  to  perpetuate  that  sin 
if  they  went  to  people  and  healed  them  for  noth- 
ing. It  would  be  evil  to  perpetuate  this  propensity. 
If,  however,  patients  cannot  pay  for  treatment, 
Scientists  are  perfectly  willing  to  serve  them  with- 
out any  compensation  whatever. 

"Even  if  some  get  well  under  the  treatment, 
might  they  not  get  well  anyway  ?"  Yes,  decidedly ; 
they  might  get  well  under  any  other  treatment.  I 
will  go  further,  and  say  that  a  physician  of  under- 
standing, if  he  will  be  candid,  will  say  that  seventy- 
five  or  eighty  per  cent  of  all  the  cases  of  sickness 
that  occur,  would  recover  spontaneously  if  they 
were  left  alone, — if  they  had  no  treatment,  no  doc- 
tor, no  change  of  air,  no  electricity,  or  anything 
else.  Seventy-five  or  eighty  per  cent  of  the  differ- 
ent ailments,  if  left  alone,  would  disappear  if 
nothing  were  done.  The  ability  of  any  curative 
system  to  cope  with  incorrigible  sickness  attests  its 
real  value,  and  the  healing  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  cases  of  hopeless  disease  constitutes  the 
proof  of  Christian  Science  Mind-healing. 

"Do  Christian  Scientists  believe  in  the  Bible  and 
in  prayer?"    The  first  of  the  tenets  of  the  Chris- 


CONCERNING   CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  27 

tian  Science  church  declares  that  '*As  adherents 
of  Truth,  we  take  the  inspired  Word  of  the  Bible 
as  our  sufficient  guide  to  eternal  Life."  We  not 
only  believe  in  the  Bible,  but  find  that  in  the  light 
of  Science  its  mysteries  are  effaced  and  all  seem- 
ing contradictions  are  reconciled.  We  believe  in 
prayer  without  ceasing.  We  believe  in  the  su- 
preme infinite  individuality  or  spiritual  personality 
of  God,  who  is  all  Life,  Truth,  and  Love,  all- 
power,  all-presence,  and  all-Science.  We  also  be- 
lieve in  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  in  the  resurrec- 
tion and  ascension,  and  we  hold  that  "there  is 
none  other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men, 
whereby  we  must  be  saved." 


CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 
ITS  COMPASSIONATE  APPEAL 

[Reprinted  from  The  Christian  Science  Journal.] 

Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest. — Jesus. 

THE  compassionate  appeal  of  Christian  Sci- 
ence to  the  world  meets  with  response  most 
frequently  from  people  who  are  in  trouble ;  from 
them  that  cry,  them  that  are  acquainted  with  an- 
guish of  mind  and  body,  or  that  have  been  bruised 
by  man's  inhumanity  to  man.  Why  is  this  so  ?  It 
is  because  of  the  incomparable  promise  of  Chris- 
tian Science  and  of  its  fulfilment.  You  may  search 
every  system  of  religious  and  scientific  belief,  ex- 
plore the  vast  network  of  philosophy  and  human 
reasoning,  and  you  will  find  that  no  one  of  them, 
nor  all  combined,  promises  so  much  to  the  man 
who  is  in  hell  on  earth,  as  does  Christian  Science. 
Nothing  oflfers  such  assurance  for  his  hope.  I  f  you 
will  collect  the  testimony  of  every  school  or  phase 
of  religious,  philosophic,  or  scientific  endeavor, 
concerning  the  definite  benefits  thereof  to  mankind, 
and  compare  such  testimony  with  the  testimony  of 
the  beneficiaries  of  Christian  Science,  you  will 
28 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE   APPEAL  29 

learn  that  not  one  of  the  former  effects,  or  even 
claims  to  effect,  such  a  comprehensive  list  of  mani- 
fold benefits  as  are  palpable  in  the  indestructible 
facts  of  Christian  Science  practice. 

Such  statements  as  these  may  appear  to  be 
aggressive  and  monopolistic,  because  of  their  un- 
bending positiveness  of  assertion.  I  will  not  stop 
now  to  justify  this  incisive  quality,  which  is  al- 
ways incidental  to  scientific  utterance  and  which 
Burr  so  aptly  named  "the  effrontery  of  truth," 
but  will  beg  the  reader  to  remembel*  that  Christiaii) 
Science  does  not  ask  any  one  to  believe  anything  ( 
that  he  cannot  prove  to  be  true ;  to  remember,  al^o, 
that  it  is  a  demonstrable  Science;  a  knowledge  of 
which  is  manifested  in  conclusive  proof.  Would 
you  ask  for  more  than  this?  Will  anything  less 
than  demonstrable  truth  ever  serve  to  extricate 
humanity  from  its  dire  distress  ?  Jesus  said,  ** Ye 
shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make 
you  free." 

The  ranks  of  Christian  Science  include  thou- 
sands who  have  been  delivered  from  desperate, 
unbearable  conditions.  Although  many  a  league 
still  lies  between  them  and  manifested  perfection^ 
they  know  that  they  are  actors  in  the  most  stu- 
pendous business  to  which  this  race  will  ever  give 
attention ;  namely,  the  extinction  or  obliteration  of 
sin,  disease,  every  kind  of  evil  that  infests  human- 
ity. The  indisputable  facts  of  Christian  Science 
healing  are  attracting  the  multitude,  and,  in  geo- 


30  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

metrical  ratio,  its  numerical  strength  is  being  rap- 
idly augmented  by  those  who  come  to  inquire  and 
to  learn.  The  man  or  woman  who,  wandering 
along  the  border-land  of  Christian  Science,  finally 
decides  to  cross  the  frontier  and  seek  abode  within 
its  comforting  shelter,  is  entitled  to  the  loving 
hospitality  of  every  one  who  has  himself  been  re- 
deemed from  a  dark  or  painful  experience.  With- 
out disposition  to  force  the  attention  of  any  one 
to  this  subject,  or  to  be  overofficious  in  the  way  of 
importunity  and  advice,  these  words  are  written 
in  the  hope  of  making  easier  the  pathway  of  those 
whose  footsteps  have  been  among  thorns. 

In  delivering  a  lecture  at  one  time,  I  dwelt  some- 
what on  the  subject  of  hell,  and  learned  that  a  lady 
who  was  in  the  audience,  afterward  said,  "Well! 
I  think  that  the  lecturer  spoke  very  disrespectfully 
concerning  hell."  The  lady  was  right,  I  have  no 
respect  whatever  for  hell.  I  have  been  in  it  and 
through  it,  and  know  it  to  be  an  abomination  and 
a  fraud,  entitled  only  to  the  execration  of  mankind. 
It  is  an  individual  state  of  wretched  conscious- 
ness, utterly  unlike  God,  or  His  nature,  or  the  con- 
ceded essentials  of  His  being.  It  is  an  illegitimate 
monstrosity  which  has  no  verity,  no  immortality, 
nor  right  to  exist.  After  "the  pangs  of  hell"  had 
seized  me  and  impinged  upon  me  their  torments,  I 
was  rescued  through  the  operative  efficacy  of 
Christian  Science.  Then  the  tears  began  to  dry, 
the  tension  of  fear  to  relax,  the  gloom  was  dis- 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE   APPEAL  31 

pelled,  despair  lost  its  hold,  the  pain  decreased 
and  at  last  vanished.  I  ''would  not  overstate  my 
woe,"  for,  be  that  as  it  may,  I  know  that  a  mighty, 
satisfying  impulsion  extricated  me  from  as  out- 
rageous a  hell  as  any  one  need  know,  and  ushered 
me  into  the  vestibule  of  heaven  by  means  of  a 
transformation  of  consciousness  whereby  exist- 
ence seemed  more  fair  and  the  obduracy  of  dis- 
tress gave  way  to  a  certain  measure  of  peace  to 
which  man  is  lawfully  entitled. 

Having  come  upon  the  scene  of  Christian  Sci- 
ence by  traversing  nearly  all  the  way  from  a 
waiting  grave,  I  have  learned  something  of  the 
besetments  that  would  hinder,  and  sometimes  do 
hinder,  the  sufferer  who  seeks  escape  from  his 
direful  fate  and  who  needs  to  find  the  divine  equip- 
ment by  which  to  gain  a  mastery  over  that  fate 
and  its  woe.  It  is  therefore  fitting  that  I  refer  to 
some  of  the  questions  and  mistakes  which  some- 
times puzzle  and  distract  the  newcomer.  One  of 
these  takes  form  in  the  objection  to  the  use  of  the 
term  Christian  Science,  on  the  plea  that  it  involves 
a  misuse  of  the  word  ''science."  This  phase  of 
criticism  is  always  the  result  of  unfamiliarity  with 
the  technical  definition  and  legitimate  import  of 
the  word.  As  a  matter  of  fact  there  are  no  other 
words  in  the  English  language  which  would  more 
correctly  or  adequately  serve  the  purpose  for  which 
the  words  Christian  Science  are  employed.  This 
term  is  used  legitimately  to  indicate  that  Christian 


32  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

Science  is  a  definite,  systematic,  and  demonstrable 
statement  of  the  truth  about  the  Christianity  of 
Christ ;  the  truth  about  God,  man,  and  the  universe. 
It  will  hardly  be  denied  that  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  the  truth  about  God,  man,  and  the  universe,  and 
it  ought  not  to  be  denied  that  the  truth  of  or 
about  Christianity  is  the  Science  of  Christianity; 
hence  it  is  amazing  that  a  person  having  access  to 
a  dictionary  should  contend  that  the  conjoined 
words  Christian  Science  constitute  a  misnomer. 
Christian  Science  and  Christian  knowledge  are 
synonymous  terms,  and  their  use  is  justified  ac- 
cording to  the  same  rule  and  propriety  which 
justify  the  use  of  the  word  omniscience. 

It  is  sometimes  said,  *1  think  Christian  Science 
is  a  beautiful  religion,  but  I  am  not  ready  to  espouse 
it,  because  I  fear  that  it  will  require  me  to  give  up 
so  much."  One  reason  why  Christian  Science  is  a 
beautiful  religion  is  that  it  does  not  require  one  to 
give  up  anything  that  is  good  or  that  will  result  in 
good  for  him.  It  calls  for  the  abandonment  of 
nothing  but  misery  and  that  which  causes  misery. 
It  sanctions  everything  that  makes  for  the  happi- 
ness, health,  welfare,  andlife  of  man  and  interdicts 
only  that  which  inevitably  makes  for  the  desola- 
tion, the  bankruptcy,  the  collapse  of  human  exist- 
ence. It  shows  that  it  is  evil  alone  which  lures 
mortals  from  their  own  prosperity  by  the  fatuous 
pretense  that  sin  can  confer  any  semblance  of  joy 
that  does  not  contain  the  sting  of  suffering. 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE   APPEAL  33 

It  is  frequently  said,  '*I  would  like  to  know  about 
Christian  Science,  but  it  seems  to  be  so  hard  to 
understand."     Now,   on  the  contrary.   Christian' 
Science  is  simplicity  itself,  and  the  difficulty  is  else- 
where than  in  the  intrinsic  substance  and  presen- 
tation of  the  subject.    In  her  work,  "Science  and  ' 
Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  Mrs.  Eddy 
writes  of  a  person  who  at  an  early  age  was  con- 
fined in  a  darkened  dungeon,  wherein  he  lived  for  j 
years.     Later  on,  when  liberated  and  taken  into  ' 
the  light  he  was  greatly  distressed  by  what  was,  to 
him,  an  unnatural  experience,  and  he  begged  to  be 
returned  to  his  accustomed  habitat,  and  to  what,  to 
him,  seemed  to  be  a  normal  estate.  His  contact  with 
the  light,  and  the  sounds  that  he  heard,  excited  him 
painfully  and  were  most  trying.    He  had  become 
so  accustomed  to  the  abnormal  that  proper  condi- 
tions were  intolerable  and  incomprehensible  to  him. 

An  explanation  somewhat  parallel  with  this  nar- 
rative may  be  offered  at  this  point.  There  are  mil- 
lions of  people  who  will  say  they  believe  that  God 
is  good,  that  God  is  Life,  that  God  is  perfect  and 
changes  not,  and  that  He  is  infinite.  These  same 
people  will  also  say  they  believe  that  God  procures 
or  has  instituted  sickness  and  death,  and  that  He 
gives  permission  to  evil  and  its  activity.  Persons 
who  commonly  subscribe  to  these  two  propositions 
suppose  that  they  understand  them  and  that  it  is 
easy  to  understand  them.  But  these  two  statements 
of  the  deific  nature  are  directly  opposed  to  each 


34  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

Other,  hence  both  of  them  cannot  be  true,  nor  can 
they  possibly  be  amalgamated.  No  one  who  gives 
assent  to  them  can  ever  understand  w^hat  they  really 
mean.  I  know  of  nothing  in  the  range  of  thought 
that  ought  more  properly  to  elicit  the  protest  that 
it  is  hard  to  understand,  than  the  attempt  to  com- 
bine these  two  postulates  of  religious  belief;  viz., 
that  infinite  good  can  permit  evil ;  that  infinite  Life, 
which  changes  not,  can  change  itself  and  induce 
sickness  and  death,  and  that  perfection  can  be  the 
author  of  disaster.  All  these  contradictions  are 
logically  unthinkable  and  ought  to  become  void. 
No  bridge  spans  the  gulf  between  such  antipodes, 
and  logic  and  reason  can  do  nothing  but  utterly 
repudiate  these  fanciful  conclusions. 

Christian  Science  declares  that  God  is  good,  and 
is  infinite ;  that  God  is  Life,  Truth,  Love ;  that  God 
is  Spirit,  is  perfection,  and  is  supreme.  It  declares 
that  He  is  the  cause  and  origin  of  all  real  existence ; 
that  He  is  the  sole  lawmaker,  is  all-power,  and  hath 
done  all  things  well.  There  is  scarcely  a  Christian 
on  earth  who  would  deny  any  of  these  postulates. 
Wherefore,  then,  is  the  objection  that  Christian 
Science  is  hard  to  understand  ?  Is  it  because  every 
incidental  or  amplified  belief  included  in  the  the- 
ology of  Christian  Science  is  in  consistent  accord 
and  harmony  in  every  particular  with  these  funda- 
mental statements  ?  Is  it  because  Christian  Science 
insistently  presents  a  complete  structure  of  reli- 
gious belief  which  is  without  illogical  antithesis? 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE  APPEAL  35 

No.  It  is  because  Christian  Science  teaches  that" 
good  is  natural  and  normal  and  that  evil  is  illegiti- 
mate and  abnormal.  It  is  because  the  world  has 
regarded  evil  as  an  indestructible  entity,  whereas 
Christian  Science  discloses  it  to  be  a  disorderly 
negation  which  can  be  abolished.  It  is  because  of 
the  newness,  the  novelty,  the  strangeness  of  this 
modern  analysis  of  what  has  been  called  a  baffling 
mystery,  that  the  old-time  thinker  designates  it  dif- 
ficult to  understand.  Its  pure  logic  and  reasoning 
solve  mysteries.  They  are  the  correlatives  of  an 
immaculate  science;  and  they  shine  with  a  pure 
and  simple  light  which  dazzles  and  thus  perhaps 
confuses  the  mind  accustomed  to  other  things. 

Many  people  have  held  aloof  from  Christian 
Science  because  of  some  person  or  persons  in  the 
neighborhood  who  were  known  as  Christian  Scien- 
tists, and  who  were  illiterate,  or  lacking  in  culture 
and  good  manners,  or  possibly  who  did  not  appear 
to  have  ascended  to  a  high  moral  plane  of  daily 
living.  It  so  happens  that  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tian Science,  which  is  no  respecter  of  persons, 
touches  the  need  and  thought  of  all  sorts  of  human 
beings.  Much  of  its  glory  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
illumines  the  way  of  universal  salvation  for  the 
entire  race.  Christian  Scientists  do  not  pose  as  a 
kind  of  exalte,  nor  do  they  pretend  to  be  saints  or 
to  be  perfect.  Their  modest  boast  would  be,  if 
boast  at  all,  that  whereas  they  once  manifested 
very  many  of  the  frailties  of  human  life,  the  di- 


36  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

vine  purifier  has  made  them  at  least  better  than 
they  were.  Let  us  not  Hnger  too  long,  dear  friends, 
to  murmur  because  this  splendid  blessedness  has 
been  bestowed  on  the  rich  and  poor  alike;  upon 
the  educated  and  the  lowly ;  let  us  remember  that 
there  are  no  mortals  on  this  earth  who  do  not  need 
at  times  to  weep  hot  tears  because  they  so  poorly 
do  the  will  of  God.  Infinite  Science  cannot  be 
hindered  nor  restrained  by  persons.  What  does 
it  matter  to  you  who  need  to  be  saved,  if  some  one 
else  needs  it  more,  or  if  he  heeds  not  the  touch  of 
God  and  the  opportunity  for  reform?  You  may 
look  in  vain  for  perfect  people,  but  you  need  not 
vainly  look  for  that  which  promises  to  redeem, 
even  though  their  sins  be  as  scarlet. 

No  one  can  progress  in  Christian  Science  with- 
out first  being  reconciled  to  the  text-book,  Science 
and  Health,  and  whosoever  finds  himself  in  a  state 
of  umbrage  toward  the  book  or  its  author  would 
do  well  to  stop  and  give  his  sole  attention  to  a  recon- 
ciliation therewith.  There  is  no  more  specious  nor 
mischievous  argument  than  that  the  book  is  defec- 
tive, insufficient,  and  difficult  to  understand,  and 
that  some  other  statement  is  more  easily  compre- 
hended.* The  fact  is  that  all  other  Christian  Sci- 
entists combined  are  not  so  competent  to  state  this 
Science  and  the  modus  of  its  application  as  is  Mrs. 
Eddy.  None  knows  so  well  what  to  say  and  how 
to  say  it,  in  order  to  meet  the  specific  and  universal 
need  of  the  world.    There  is  no  teacher  of  Chris- 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE   APPEAL  37 

tian  Science,  no  lecturer,  no  writer  for  its  periodi- 
cals who  ever  uttered  anything  of  value  concerning 
this  Science  and  its  practice,  who  did  not,  in  so 
doing,  cross  and  recross  the  same  ground  which 
iMrs.  Eddy  covered,  in  a  better  way,  years  before. 
She  has  not  committed  the  great  fault  of  omitting 
to  say  in  her  books  whatever  is  necessary  in  order 
to  enable  the  learner  to  make  his  way.  Science  and 
Health  has  been  the  text-book  and  instructor  of  the 
practitioners  who  have  accomplished  the  cure  of 
millions  of  cases  of  disease.  It  is  entirely  satisfac- 
tory to  those  who  best  know  what  it  means  and 
best  know  what  is  required  of  such  a  book.     In)  ^ 

order  to  do  the  best  that  can  be  done,  we  should 
be  vigilant  to  imbibe  our  sense  of  Science  from . 
this  book  in  preference  to  any  other  literature.       J 

Christian  Science  does  not  promise  that  by  mere 
acquiescence  in  its  teachings  one  can  at  once  sweep 
away  the  asserted  activity  and  impress  of  all  evil. 
Progress  will  be  realized  after  the  manner  which 
the  Scriptures  indicate, — line  upon  line,  precept 
upon  precept,  here  a  little  and  there  a  little.  It  is 
also  important  to  know  that  one  may  and  must 
begin  at  once  to  put  into  practice  what  he  learns. 
No  one  need  delay  because  of  the  suggestion  that 
he  must  have  a  great  understanding  of  it  before 
he  can  reap  its  benefits.  That  which  we  accomplish 
for  ourselves  is  of  vastly  more  value  to  us  than  if 
the  same  result  were  achieved  for  us  by  some  one 
else.    Jesus  said,  "It  must  needs  be  that  offenses 


^/. 


»^ 


38  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

come."  We  shall  have  occasion  to  cross  swords 
with  evil,  but  we  should  remember  that  we  now 
have  something  with  which  to  win ;  and  that  such 
errors  appear  only  to  disappear  before  the  might 
of  Truth;  therefore,  let  us  ''be  not  afraid." 

The  average  person  who  decides  to  turn  to  Chris- 
tian Science  for  the  cure  of  disease  has  many  a 
misgiving.  There  is  no  remedy  or  modus  in  sight. 
There  is  nothing  that  he  can  see,  no  plan  that  he 
understands  which  offers  tangible  assurance  that 
something  is  being  employed  to  aid  him.  For  him 
to  decide  to  trust  the  issue  to  that  which  he  does 
not  comprehend  and  cannot  behold  seems  like 
jumping  off  the  earth  into  empty  space.  He  might 
feel  even  more  adrift  and  rudderless  if  he  knew 
that  we  were  not  depending  on  a  petition  to  God, 
whereby  to  persuade  Him  to  heal  the  man  in  con- 
sideration of  the  prayer. 

O  thou  battered  and  storm-tossed  victim  of  ill 
fortune,  in  this  hour  when  decision  is  poised  be- 
tween the  exigencies  of  your  need  and  that  which 
seems  as  though  it  might  be  a  final  plunge  into  the 
unknown  and  non-discernible,  take  heart,  for  at 
last  there  is  opportunity  for  you  to  know  that 
your  Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  you  may,  with 
much  avail,  trust  in  the  good  God. 

Let  us  inquire  as  to  this  reliance,  and  try  to  con- 
clude whether  you  are  committing  your  hope  to 
something  or  nothing.  If  you  were  to  congregate 
all  the  people  on  earth  and  discuss  with  them  their 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE   APPEAL  39 

ills  and  their  desire  for  relief,  and  if  it  were  with- 
in your  privilege  to  let  them  designate  that  which 
they  might  choose  to  invoke  in  their  own  behalf, 
upon  what  would  they  decide?  If  they  knew 
enough  they  would  say,  "We  invoke  the  supreme 
power  of  the  universe,  whatever  that  may  be.  We 
ask  for  the  supremacy  of  power,  of  action,  and  of 
law.  If  supreme  power  be  available  for  us,  then 
nothing  can  hinder  or  withstand  or  continue  to 
oppose  it,  because  it  necessarily  follows,  that  if 
supreme  power  makes  for  the  manifestation  of 
good  it  will  abolish  every  semblance  of  power  that 
makes  for  the  manifestation  of  evil."  Would  you 
who  may  read  these  words  ask  for  more  than  the 
privilege  of  invoking  infinite  supremacy?  Can  the 
sick  man  possibly  utter  a  more  adequate  appeal? 
Is  there  anything  illogical  or  fanciful  in  the  desire 
of  a  man  that  needs  help,  that  the  help  shall  be 
supreme  ?  No !  Then,  having  taken  a  reasonable 
step,  the  question  to  consider  is  this, — Is  there 
such  a  thing  as  supreme  power?  If  there  be,  then 
is  it  available  to  a  sick  man? 

By  way  of  answer  to  these  questions  let  us  ob- 
serve that  certain  things  are  undeniably  true.  It  is 
undeniable  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  existence, 
as  the  universe,  including  man.  All  the  objects  of 
creation  are  effects  of  phenomena.  All  these  effects 
or  phenomena  are  the  effects  of  some  cause.  When 
the  subject  is  carried  to  its  final  analysis,  it  is  un- 
deniable that  all  phenomena  proceed  from  or  mani- 


40  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

fest  one  noumenon  or  cause.  In  other  words,  all 
the  objects  of  the  universe  have  one  cause  or  crea- 
tive energy.  The  same  origin  or  cause  w^hich  pro- 
duces things  or  effects,  also  maintains  them ;  hence 
the  inevitable  conclusion  that  there  is  some  supreme 
cause  v^hich  induces  and  includes  all  the  things  and 
activities  of  the  universe  and  to  w^hich  all  are  sub- 
ordinate. Further,  it  w^ill  not  be  denied  that  man 
manifests  intelligence,  and  as  man  is  a  phenomenon 
or  effect,  then  it  f  ollow^s  by  w^ay  of  conclusion  that 
his  intelligence  can  only  exist  because  his  creator 
is  an  intelligent  cause.  Inasmuch,  then,  as  active 
intelligence  means  active  consciousness,  it  follow^s 
that  the  Intelligent  First  Cause  is  conscious  intel- 
ligence or  conscious  being. 

No  possible  line  of  logical  reasoning  can  by  any 
means  demolish  the  conclusion  that  a  consciously 
intelligent  primary  or  First  Cause  is  supreme  as 
power,  and  has  been  properly  designated  omnip- 
otence. English-speaking  people  have  agreed 
among  themselves  that,  in  so  far  as  a  name  can 
indicate  that  which  is  infinite,  they  will  use  the 
word  God  whereby  to  designate  Deity.  The  final 
conclusion  is  that  God  is  supreme  as  power,  ac- 
tion, and  law,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  by 
general  consensus  of  belief  God  is  identical  with 
*'good,"  it  may  also  appear  that  the  supremacy  of 
power,  action,  and  law  is  good. 

Then  there  comes  the  question,  Is  the  law  and 
power  of  our  supreme  God  available  for  a  sick 


ITS  COMPASSIONATE  APPEAL  41 

man  ?  The  only  convincing  answer  to  this  question 
must  be  in  the  form  of  proofs.  Jesus  declared 
that  God's  power  is  lawfully  available,  and  he 
vindicated  his  statement  by  means  of  proof.  Chris- 
tian Science  declares  the  same  thing,  and  unnum- 
bered instances  of  healing  through  its  practice 
constitute  the  same  proof.  If  it  were  not  so,  we 
would  be  obliged  to  conclude  that  He  created 
man,  "the  noblest  work  of  God,"  as  an  outcast  or 
outlaw  and  thrust  him  into  existence  without  any 
recourse  to  divine  law  and  power;  subject  only  to 
the  spurious  law  of  sin  and  death.  Would  infinite 
good  do  that  ?  The  Christian  Science  patient,  then, 
instead  of  appealing  to  nothing,  is  relying  on  the 
supreme  power  of  the  universe.  God  has  created 
no  origin  or  cause  of  disease  and  no  law  for  the 
procurement  of  a  sick  man  or  his  discomfiture.  On 
the  contrary,  the  natural,  primal  law  of  God  is  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  the  law  of  reconstruction, 
recuperation,  restoration,  and  recovery  for  the 
sick.  As  soon  as  mortals  discern  and  prove  this 
scientific  verity  they  will  enter  the  door  of  heaven. 
I  remember  that  soon  after  reading  Sjfcence  and 
Health  I  found  myself  mourning  because  "I  had 
lost  my  God,"  and  since  then  I  have  had  occasion 
to  comfort  other  mourners  who  had  come  to  the 
same  strange  conclusion.  Alas,  dear  friend,  what 
kind  of  a  God  was  it  that  could  be  so  easily  lost? 
Please  do  not  think  me  harsh  if  I  say  that  if  you 
have  a  god  that  can  be  lost,  the  quicker  you  lose  it 


42  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

the  better.  The  god  I  then  had  was  indeed  a  trav- 
esty, a  thing  of  human  conception.  It  was  simply 
an  impossible  god.  Nevertheless,  while  I  had  it,  it 
frightened  me  and  filled  me  with  dread  and  dismay. 
I  greatly  rejoice  now,  that  it  was  lost,  and  that 
Christian  Science  dethrones  all  other  gods  that  can 
be  lost.  Instead  of  depriving  any  one  of  God,  Chris- 
tian Science  reveals  the  true  God  and  abundantly 
satisfies  him  whose  joy  it  is  to  know  God  aright. 

For  ages  mortals  have  been  trained  to  have  a 
good  opinion  of  what  they  have  been  pleased  to 
call  their  minds.  Self-admiration,  pride  of  intellect, 
and  tenacity  of  opinion, — these  have  been  associ- 
ated with  that  mental  combativeness  which  usually 
seeks  to  dominate  and  to  prevail.  The  seeming 
necessity  for  existing  by  the  rule  of  the  survival  of 
the  fittest  has  driven  every  man  into  an  attitude  of 
contention  for  self-advantage.  This  spirit  of  bar- 
ter often  influences  him  as  he  approaches  the  very 
throne  of  grace,  and  frequently  do  we  hear  the 
man  who  says,  *Tf  Christian  Science  will  heal  me, 
I  will  believe  in  it,"  or,  *Tf  they  will  heal  me  it 
will  be  a  good  thing  for  Christian  Science  in  our 
town,"  or,  "If  it  does  not  cure  me,  I  shall  know 
there  is  nothing  in  it."  To  these  it  is  to  be  said,  In 
such  an  attitude  of  thought,  it  will  scarcely  avail 
you  to  approach  the  subject  at  all,  God  cannot 
enter  into  convention  with  a  human  being  and 
negotiate  for  blessedness  on  terms  proposed  by  a 
sick  man  or  a  sinner.    The  Science  of  being  cannot 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE  APPEAL  43 

argue  or  debate  with  you  on  the  facts  of  infinite 
purpose,  law,  and  animus.  It  is  folly  to  expend 
oneself  in  complaint  against  Christian  Science 
because  it  does  not  make  things  less  rough  for 
you,  according  to  your  own  requirements.  It  is 
foolish  to  fight  at  it  with  argument  and  rebellious 
discussion,  because  it  will  not  fight  back  nor  heed 
your  fight ;  it  will  simply  continue  to  be  itself. 

Now  if  you  would  have  the  way  less  rough,  then 
know  this:  that  in  the  presence  of  demonstrable 
Science  there  is  no  place  or  opportunity  for  argu- 
ment and  no  occasion  even  for  patronizing  conces- 
sions. In  such  presence  a  man  may  well  uncover 
his  head,  remember  that  "the  wisdom  of  this  world 
is  foolishness  with  God,"  and  then,  after  the 
fashion  of  him  who  becomes  as  a  little  child,  sim- 
ply ask  to  know,  to  be  taught,  to  learn  the  way. 
Divine  Love,  surpassing  immeasurably  the  love 
of  tenderest  mother,  does  indeed  love  "his  own," 
and  will  protect  and  continue  it  in  perfection;  but, 
dear  friend,  pride,  and  the  arrogance  of  worldly 
wisdom,  and  the  tumult  of  the  human  will,-;-these 
are  not  "his  own."  There  is  no  need  of  a  new 
rule  whereby  to  lead  wounded  humanity  from  the 
serpent's  trail  and  to  heal  it  of  the  serpent's  sting. 
The  rule  is  this,  "Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  his  righteousness;  and  all  these  things  shall 
be  added  unto  you."  The  healing  work  through 
Christian  Science  occurs,  partly  because  some  one 
is  observing  this  rule  and  is  thinking,  knowing,  and 


44  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

living  rightly.  The  healing  is  an  effect,  a  sign, 
following  a  cause,  and  the  only  cause  of  healing 
is  a  certain  indispensable  degree  of  rightness. 

Try  not  to  be  ashamed  because  you  appeal  for 
treatment  or  turn  your  face  timidly  toward  this 
haven  which  you  have  not  explored,  The  frown 
of  society  may  urge  you  to  be  perturbed,  but  try 
not  to  be  ashamed.  You  may  not  know  it,  but 
you  are  invoking  the  power,  law,  and  action  of 
infinity.  Your  appeal  is  really  to  our  majestic 
God  and  according  to  His  invitation.  Compared 
with  His  boundless  wisdom,  perfection,  and  might, 
what  is  society?  If  it  were  His  business  to  be 
ashamed  of  anything.  He  might  be  justified  for 
being  ashamed  of  us,  but  from  the  standpoint  of 
Truth  it  is  to  be  said  that  of  all  things  visible 
nothing  seems  more  pitiable  than  the  man  who  is 
ashamed  of  God  and  of  his  hope  of  salvation. 

No  evil  suggestion  has  sought  more  industri- 
ously or  senselessly  to  restrain  the  inquirer  than 
the  one  that  Christian  Science  has  been  introduced 
to  the  world  by  a  woman,  and  for  that  reason  does 
not  deserve  acceptance  at  the  hands  of  an  intelli- 
gent people.  Please  pardon  me,  dear  reader,  if  with 
unconventional  familiarity  I  ask  you  to  imagine 
yourself  in  an  old-fashioned  fire-and-brimstone 
hell.  We  will  assume  that  you  have  been  in  it  a 
long  time  and  have  endured  the  interminable  fire 
of  its  wretchedness,  and  have  had  enough  of  it. 
Now  let  us  suppose  that  it  is  made  known  to  you 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE   APPEAL  45 

that  there  is  a  rope  hanging  over  the  brink  of  hell 
and  that  if  you  can  find  the  rope  it  will  in  some 
way  pull  you  out:  What  would  you  do?  Why, 
you  would  spend  days  and  nights  looking  for  that 
rope.  No  invitation  to  remain  longer  to  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  hell  would  turn  you  from  your  im- 
perative purpose.  In  the  course  of  time,  it  would 
occur  to  you  that  you  were  not  bestowing  any 
favor  or  advantage  on  the  rope  by  looking  for  it. 
You  would  dismiss  the  thought  that  because  of 
your  social  position  or  the  unusual  importance  of 
your  personality,  the  rope  ought  to  look  you  up 
and  insist  on  your  allowing  it  to  bestow  some 
great  service  upon  you.  In  the  course  of  a  proper 
search  for  the  rope,  humility,  reverence,  simplicity, 
and  purity  of  motive  would  mark  the  progress  of 
your  pilgrimage  like  mile-stones,  and  your  heart's 
deep  petition  would  be  that  you  might  see  the  way 
and  walk  therein. 

Let  us  suppose  that  you  have  found  the  rope, 
and  that  as  you  approach  it  you  see  a  large  con- 
course of  people,  all  of  them  in  the  throes  of  more 
or  less  damnation  and  all  in  supreme  need  of  de- 
liverance. Among  those  people  there  is  much  dis- 
cussion and  debate.  You  wait  long  enough  to 
observe  that  many  persons  are  clinging  to  the  rope 
and  are  being  reclaimed  and  lifted  out  of  the  pit. 
Finally  some  one  comes  to  you  at  the  moment 
when  hope  should  be  high  and  your  pitiful  appeal 
be  nigh  unto  its  answer,  and  tells  you  that  he  has 


46  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

decided  not  to  try  the  rope  because  its  color  or  tex- 
ture is  not  according  to  his  judgment  and  fancy, 
and  because  it  has  been  suspended  over  hell's 
awful  abyss  by  a  woman!  What  would  you  do? 
Would  you,  for  such  a  reason  turn  back  and  cast 
yourself  again  into  the  havoc  which  is  so  utterly 
without  promise  of  its  extinction  that  people  have 
for  ages  called  h  eternal?  Again,  let  us  assume 
that  you  are  stirred  by  the  thought  that  perchance 
the  rope  is  well  enough  per  se,  and  it  would  be 
entitled  to  your  respect  and  devotion  if  it  had  been 
introduced  into  the  scene  of  human  turmoil  by  a 
man,  or  by  some  one  of  our  great  men :  What  is 
to  be  said  concerning  this  ? 

The  rope  and  its  undeniable  achievements  consti- 
tute a  fixed,  determined,  accomplished  fact.  Since 
the  day  when  Christ  Jesus  prophesied  that  "ye  shall 
know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you 
free,"  there  have  been  billions  of  men  on  earth, 
all  intent  on  getting  out  of  trouble.  Not  one  of 
them  ever  found  the  rope, — the  scientific  rule  of 
practice  whereby  evil  is  exterminated.  It  is,  per- 
haps, no  wonder  that  you  repine  because  no  great 
man  has  done  this  thing,  but  is  there  any  rational- 
ity in  the  demurrer  against  the  great  woman  who 
verily  hath  accomplished  the  fact? 

You  are  not  asked  to  worship  the  rope.  You  are 
not  asked  to  worship  the  woman,  indeed  there  is 
no  place  for  an  apotheosis  in  Christian  Science 
practice.    You  are  simply  to  learn  that  the  Mind 


ITS   COMPASSIONATE  APPEAL  47 

*'which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus"  is  the  master  of 
every  conceivable  evil  and  hath  abolished  "the  law 
of  sin  and  death"  in  accordance  with  the  will  and 
law  of  our  supreme  God.  Some  day  it  may  be 
yours  to  understand  this  great  transaction  and  to 
discern  the  superb  fitness  of  all  its  parts,  and  when 
you  do  so  understand  you  will  be  satisfied,  and 
you  will  be  glad  that  it  came  through  a  woman. 
Moreover,  you  will  learn,  some  day,  that  the  woman 
who  discovered  the  rope  and  uncoiled  it  in  the 
sight  of  the  world  and  over  the  brink  of  human 
misfortune,  has  been  obliged  ceaselessly  to  continue 
her  watch  whereby  to  keep  it  there.  You  will  also 
learn  that  while  doing  this  she  has  been  subjected 
to  every  conceivable  assault  of  evil,  and  yet  has 
endured  and  labored,  and  won  for  humanity ;  and 
when  you  know  all  about  the  unspeakable  travail 
of  this  ministry,  you  will  wonder  if  you  have  ever 
heard  of  a  man,  since  the  day  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity, who  was  equal  to  such  a  task. 

Edward  A.  Kimball. 


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